Kink on tap
katrina_splat reccommended this kink on tap podcast and, the other day, I decided to give it a go. To be honest, I was less than impressed. While it was refreshing to hear people talk about topical issues from a viewpoint even more toward the left than my own, I couldn't help but be frustrated by the lack of sophistication of the podcast. Which, I think, really
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I will have to go through and try and find which episodes I found particularly useful and helpful to think about...some of those that involved transgender issues I found particularly useful because I got sooo much information that I'm already applying to my perception of gender in the real world. And just a lot more understanding of how people who incorporate BDSM into their lives arent' mentally ill, which is often the only way that they are identified in certain parts of the world. And there was some great stuff on sex work and ethical pornography, which may or may not interest people (or moreso may turn people off just by the fact it's sex work and pornography) but interests me because I think it's an undeniable part of human history, and links in with endless political, moral and scientific debates IMO.
You ask me to recc you some more stuff...I'd really love to but if you think kink on tap is a minefield with one-sided opinions then think of the good stuff in the rest of the stuff out there as finding needles in haystacks. The good stuff and/or the stuff that's relevant to your interests. The problem with the world of all this 'kink' and sexuality stuff is that there is absolutely nowhere else where things get spoken about on such a level playing field...so many disparate topics with no one afraid to just ask 'I don't understand, can you please explain?' The BDSM community can be just as judgmental and exclusive as any other, and Kink on Tap often had people with very disparate opinions asking each other why they thought that way (perhaps the episodes I pointed you to weren't the best example of that). It isn't a podcast that fits an agenda, as all the other podcasts and blogs out there pretty much do. They're set to a very small audience and often are full of advertising for products I really don't want to endorse in any way (pornography I object to, sex toy manufacturers with debatable ethics). When I found Kink on Tap I was elated to find people talking about things that interested me without making me feel like I had to already know everything, or made it a fetishised space, incompatible with 'normal' ways of thinking.
Which is why I'm so sad to hear it's ending :( Number 67 will be the last cast, or at least the last for a long time. May is suffering a lot from mental health and personal issues and no one around him has been able to help with the technical aspects of the show, and he's become really bitter about this. So he's stopping, because it's not fun anymore. This is where he talks about some of the impact the cast has had on him and others, and his view of the world (which is unapologetically opinionated): http://maybemaimed.com/2010/11/15/i-am-no-hercules/
So I'm going to have to keep trawling through (literally) a hundred blogs and feeds, and a dozen sexuality related podcasts, to find the nuggets of humanity that I can relate to or find useful in interactions in the world...it takes so much energy to find what was so effortlessly in Kink on Tap (for me).
Anyway, sorry for the rant, I will try and find a few good ones to give you to listen to specifically. :P. Thanks for reading (if you got through it all). :P
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I'd love to hear about any recommendations you think would particularly interesting but maybe this would be best done on an ad hoc basis because I don't want you to feel obliged to take that time. I have plenty of things to occupy me otherwise.
I'm very grateful to have you on my friendslist and as a friend by the way, the medicine bubble can be so homogenous it's good to have people who can remind me how much else there is out there.
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Also, for what it's worth, I really appreciated reading your thoughtful commentary about Kink On Tap.
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That being said, I think I was lost for context when I made these points because this is a podcast that really does speak to those people who are progressive thinkers but remain intimidated by the oppressive nature of society - a position I think we can all relate to. I think its a very noble thing this podcast sets out to achieve, and certainly, has already achieved to a great extent. My concern is that when opinions become too inflammatory they start putting people offside instead of drawing them into the conversation. We mustn't hate those that hate us, that's not what social progression is all about.
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Attempts "to take a position of intellectual and professional highground" is what the left has done for over 30 years. Before we were called "elites," we were called "eggheads." I think you and I have radically different perspectives on this. From the perspective of The Left, however, the novel perspective is the one I hold.
I think I was lost for context when I made these points because this is a podcast that really does speak to those people who are progressive thinkers but remain intimidated by the oppressive nature of society - a position I think we can all relate to. I think its a very noble thing this podcast sets out to achieve, and certainly, has already achieved to a great extent.
Thanks. :)
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I think you're talking about the left-wing intellectual snobbery idea and the problems associated with socially branding the left with this label. I think it's a mistake to try and distance ourselves from education and intellectualism as to do so would be a self-denial of sorts. It's a sad irony that the left is now accused of elitism but I don't think the answer is to pretend like it's not the way we work. I'm actually not very well versed in politics and social theory though, my background is science, and I don't understand the 'novel perspective'. I would be very happy for you to link me to some description of it or else any opinion piece on tackling elitism within the left.
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a lot more understanding of how people who incorporate BDSM into their lives arent' mentally ill, which is often the only way that they are identified in certain parts of the world.
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May is suffering a lot from mental health and personal issues …
I found this juxtaposition very interesting. Many people do not realize how unjust circumstances make it difficult for people like us to thrive and how often that very difficulty, inflicted through the cultural terrorism of shame- and fear-based messaging, is then used to kick us while we're down under the pretense of our mental defect. It is unequivocally cruel, corrosive over time, and must end sooner rather than later.
Anyway. Finding this comment tonight made my night. Thanks.
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